Rules

League Rules

Please respect the school's facilities and equipment. The gym floor is
state of the art and they are extremely protective of
it. Do NOT PUT DOWN any tape, liquids or marks of any kind. Please wear soft
rubber/gel soled court-shoes (not the black ones or road running shoes) to
prevent marking or scuffing up the floor. The knee pads should be the soft cloth
ones, NOT ones for rollerblading/ skateboarding/ biking.

Participants must accept referees' decisions with sportsmanlike conduct, without disputing them. In case of doubt, clarification may be requested only through the captain. Participants must behave respectfully and courteously in the spirit of fair play, not only toward the referees, but also toward opponents, and teammates.

MISCONDUCT AND SANCTIONS: Minor misconduct offenses are not subject to sanctions. It is the referee's duty to prevent the teams from approaching the sanctioning level by issuing a verbal or hand signal warning to a team member or to the team through the captain. This type of warning is not sanctioned and has no immediate consequences. It should not be recorded on the scoresheet.

MISCONDUCT LEADING TO SANCTIONS: Incorrect conduct by a team member toward referees, opponents, or teammates is classified in two categories according to the seriousness of the offense. Rude conduct: action contrary to good manners or moral principles, or any action expressing contempt. Offensive conduct: defamatory or insulting words or gestures.

SANCTION SCALE: According to the judgment of the referee and depending on the seriousness of the offense, the sanctions to be applied and recorded on the scoresheet are: Penalty, Expulsion or Disqualification.

PENALTY: The first rude conduct in the match by any team member is penalized with a point and service to the opponent.

EXPULSION: A team member who is sanctioned by expulsion shall not play for the rest of the set. The first offensive conduct by a team member is sanctioned by expulsion with no other consequences, the second rude conduct in the same match by the same team member is sanctioned by expulsion with no other consequences.

DISQUALIFICATION: A team member who is sanctioned by disqualification must leave the facility for the rest of the match with no other consequences. The second offensive conduct in the same match by the same team member is sanctioned by disqualification with no other consequences, the third rude conduct in the same match by the same team member is sanctioned by disqualification and no other consequences.

APPLICATION OF MISCONDUCT SANCTIONS: All misconduct santions are individual sanctions, remain in force for the entire match and are recorded on the scoresheet. The repetition of misconduct by the same team member in the same match is sanctioned progressively (the team member receives heavier sanction for each successive offense). Expulsion or disqualification due to offensive conduct or aggression does not require a previous sanction. MISCONDUCT BEFORE, DURING OR AFTER A MATCH FOLLOW THE SAME SANCTIONING RULES. GPVA has a zero tolerance policy for any physical attacks, or verbal threats. Any player exhibiting this type of behavior is subject to the following disciplinary action: First offense- player will be disqualified from the match and may be declared ineligible for GPVA Membership for one year starting from the date of the infraction. Second offense- Player will be disqualified from the match and may be declared ineligible for GPVA Membership for two years starting from the date of the infraction. Third offense- Player will be disqualified from the match and may be declared ineligible for the remainder of his/her lifetime. There is no "starting over" on this policy. All ineligibility decisions are made by the GPVA Executive Committee. A player may appeal this decision by requesting a meeting with the Executive Committee. It is the sole responsibility of the offending player to request this meeting. The appeal request must be made within 10 days of the ineligibility decision. The result of the appeal meeting is final, no further appeals may be made.

General

Smoking is not allowed anywhere on school property. Any players found to be smoking will be suspended from all leagues for the remainder of the season.

Cabinet and Ball Cart

Teams are responsible for locking the closet and ball cart at the end of each night. Any team not doing so will forfeit the games for that night. If we cannot determine which team was the last one to leave, then all 4 teams will forfeit their games for the night. In addition, those teams will be responsible for replacing any balls that may be missing as a result.

Forfeits

Matches will start promptly at the starting time. If a team cannot field a valid team at the start of the match, then a 10 minute grace period will be given before Set #1 will be forfeited. The team will get another 10 more minutes grace period between each remaining set before they too are forfeited.

For example, start time is 7 PM

* if at 7:10 PM there isn't a valid team, then Set #1 is forfeited. * if at 7:20 PM there isn't a valid team, then Set #2 is forfeited. * if at 7:30 PM there isn't a valid team, then Set #3 is forfeited. * if at 7:40 PM there isn't a valid team, then Set #4 is forfeited.

Exceptions will be made for weather and road conditions.

A team that forfeits more than 8 sets in a season will automatically forfeit its reserved spot in the league for the following season.

Teams

Each team may have up to 15 players on the roster.

When the match starts a team must have at least 2 players. At the start of second game, the team must field at least 4 players.

Teams are not required to play with a ghost. A player may not play or sub for more than one team during a season.

If a player leaves the court (due to minor injury for example) leaving the team with fewer than 6 players, the player may not return to the court for the remainder of the set.

Every player on a playoff team must have played at least 50% of the matches. Player attendance is tracked every week. Exceptions may be made on a case by case basis. Any exception must be approved by the league commissioner and all playoff team captains before the match takes place.

Matches and Scoring

Rally scoring. Due to time constraints, the sets will end at 25, win by 2, cap at 29.

Regular season matches consist of 4 sets. Playoffs are best of 5 sets. Tie-breaker set is a regular set.

Top 4 teams go on to the playoffs. Tie-breaks are determined by winning percentage, head-2-head & percentage of total points won. Standings reflect tie-breaks and are updated weekly.

Middle Line Row

No player may touch or cross the center line dividing the gym. This is the center court stripe for the basketball court. This is a safety issue and there are no exceptions.

Substitutions

One for one substitution scheme. Maximum 12 substitutions per set.

A, B, C, D, E and F are on the court. Z subs for A. Now, only Z and A cannot sub for anyone else, except for themselves. If Y subs for Z, then A, Y and Z can sub for each other, but not for anyone else on the court, so long as Y hasn't sub-ed for anyone else.

If a player needs to step out of the court for any reason (injury, etc) without a proper substitution (ie. there are no other players to sub for him), that player may not return for the duration of that game (set).

Libero

The use of a Libero is allowed.

The Libero is allowed to replace any player in a back-row position.Not allowed to complete an attack hit if at the moment of the contact, the ball is entirely higher than the top of the net.

May not serve, block or attempt to block.

A player may not complete an attack hit from higher than the top of the net, if the ball is coming from an overhand finger pass by a Libero inside the 10 foot line.Replacements involving the Libero are not counted as regular substitutions. They are unlimited, but there must be a rally between two Libero replacements. The Libero can only be replaced by the player whom he/she replaced.

Score Sheets

Team captains are responsible for checking the accuracy of score sheets before signing them. Signed score sheets are considered final.Game penalties may be assessed to teams that do not sign the score sheets at the end of the match.

Referees

No paid referees. Each team must provide referees according to the schedule. With the introduction of the Libero, it is strongly recommended that each team provides two referees per match. Failure to provide a referee will result in a 1 game penalty per missed game.

Replay Rule

All apparatus in the gym are in play (lights, ceiling, etc). If the ball hits any apparatus and crosses the plane of the net then it is out of play. If the ball hits a wall it is out of play.

The referees cannot see everything all the time, they are your fellow players. Basically, give them a break.

Season Format

The regular season will run for 13 weeks, followed by 2 weeks of playoffs.

The regular season is broken into 2 parts. The first part of the season consists of a round robin (7 weeks), after which teams will be split into two groups based on results. Group A (Top 4 teams) and Group B (Bottom 4 teams). For the second part of the season, each team will play the other teams within its group twice more. (6 weeks).

Playoffs: All 4 teams on Group A are in the playoffs along with the top 2 teams from Group B. Teams will be ranked 1-6. Wildcard and Semifinal matches will be played on the first week of playoffs. Final will be played the following week.